Trash Transformed. Lives Changed.

Shayna Bell – Photographer

Shayna Bell – Photographer

This month, we introduce you to the beautiful photography of Shayna Bell. Shayna and her family recently moved to Jakarta from the US. The cover photo of this month’s XSNews is a tribute to her skill as a photographer and her compassion and love of children. Recently, she shared how she came to visit the Cirendeu trash picker community in this interview:

“I learned about Cirendeu and XSProject through JIS (Jakarta Intercultural School). I have 2 son’s that go to school there. We helped sponsor some children back in October, but I wanted to do more. I also wanted my children to be involved, and giving cash doesn’t have the same effect as physically seeing who you are helping. I sat down with my kids in November and we looked at (XSProject’s) website and talked about what we could do to help this community and school.

We decided that instead of spending money on the yearly Christmas card that we send to family and friends, we would use that money to buy books and snacks for the kids at the school. My boys helped choose the books (all in Bahasa!) and we made care snack packages with healthy food for the school kids. After getting a date to visit with Retno, we went with her and my kids distributed the goodies and read with the children for a while.

The smiles on their faces were priceless!! They were so thankful and couldn’t wait to look at the new reading materials! It was such a great day and we learned so much-not only about XSProject but also about these communities and how they work. They really do need help!”

Visit Shayna’s website to see her beautiful work. We are so excited to be working with her!